The Bishkek City Court has upheld the ver­dict in the high-pro­file Kem­pir-Abad case involv­ing 22 activists, politi­cians, and jour­nal­ists, leav­ing the low­er court’s deci­sion unchanged.

Fol­low­ing clos­ing argu­ments and final state­ments by the defen­dants, the court retired to delib­er­ate and deliv­ered a deci­sion that had large­ly been expected.

Pho­to Internet

The case involves Mam­bet­zhunus Abylov, Aidan­bek Akma­tov, Nurlan Asan­bekov, Akyl­bek Ait­baev, Azim­bek Bek­nazarov, Marat Baya­zov, Erlan Bek­chorо uulu, Aibek Buzur­mankulov, Atai Beishen­bek uulu, Ravshan Jeen­bekov, Gul­nara Dzhurabae­va, Chyn­gyz Kaparov, Rita Karasar­to­va, Zhen­ish Moldok­ma­tov, Uluk­bek Mamataev, Temir Makhmu­dov, Taalaibek Mademi­nov, Klara Sooronkulo­va, Per­izat Sura­no­va, Asiya Sasyk­bae­va, Ilgiz Saryldyk uulu (Ilgiz Shamen­ov), and Shab­dan Ali.The case dates back to Octo­ber 22, 2022, when a com­mit­tee was formed to sup­port the Kem­pir-Abad reser­voir, bring­ing togeth­er activists, politi­cians, and mem­bers of Par­lia­ment. Mass arrests began the fol­low­ing day, with 27 indi­vid­u­als detained on charges of orga­niz­ing mass unrest.

On June 10 this year, pros­e­cu­tors request­ed sen­tences of 10 years in prison under charges of «mass unrest» and 15 years for «seizure of pow­er,» seek­ing a com­bined sen­tence of up to 20 years with prop­er­ty confiscation.

How­ev­er, on June 14, the dis­trict court acquit­ted all defen­dants due to a lack of evi­dence of a crime. Pros­e­cu­tors appealed the rul­ing to the Bishkek City Court.

Some case mate­ri­als had been clas­si­fied, and the defense repeat­ed­ly stat­ed they did not have full access to the case. The appel­late court’s deci­sion now effec­tive­ly brings the case to a close, leav­ing the acquit­tal in force.